


Three Pillars of Total Bullshit - An essay on the Epilogues

by LightlyIntertextual (Laurasauras), Psythe



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Essays, Meta, The Homestuck Epilogues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23198503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurasauras/pseuds/LightlyIntertextual, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psythe/pseuds/Psythe
Summary: An essay detailing the following three arguments: all events inThe Homestuck Epilogueswere foreshadowed and make sense given the credits; Rose is being puppeted by Dirk; and along with splitting the timelines, Dirk split the characters in half.
Comments: 35
Kudos: 63





	Three Pillars of Total Bullshit - An essay on the Epilogues

Some notes before we start:

  * This essay was written by Laurasauras, but these theories have been developed collaboratively with Psythe, and he also beta’d this, so a million thanks to him.
  * As this is all _Homestuck,_ even the things that I say with confidence or even outright quote are not guaranteed to be the One True Interpretation. It’s a very large text and there are words in there that can be used to support almost any argument. I believe this is correct and make efforts to cite as much as I can.
  * This essay is specifically about the _Epilogues._ Because of this, it may include topics of discussion that are distressing or mature. Please exercise caution when reading.
  * For convenience, Alt-Calliope is referred to as Calliope in this essay, distinct from the “alpha” Calliope, Roxy’s romantic partner, who is referred to as Callie.



There are three pillars to this essay: all events in _The Homestuck Epilogues_ were foreshadowed and make sense given the credits; Rose is being puppeted by Dirk; and along with splitting the timelines, Dirk split the characters in half. 

To understand what went down in the _Epilogues,_ it’s important to look at the glimpse we were given of the intervening years though the Snapchat credits. The universe and Earth C are established on John and Jane’s 16th birthday. The _Epilogues_ begin on their 23rd. Let’s look closer at the information we’re given between these dates, as well as recapping some relevant events.

The end of _Homestuck_ sees our heroes all meeting in one centralised place. They divide up the groups for each antagonist or group of antagonists, and prepare to fight. Vriska hands John an Earth to give to Jade when he has an opportunity, before leaving to fight Lord English ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/7539)). 

This Earth, soon to be named Earth C, is the Earth that the alpha kids grew up on, which should have been destroyed by meteors shortly after they entered their instance of Sburb. The meteor approaching the session does what the other, inert meteors would have done had the black king triggered the reckoning. It travels back to the alpha kid’s Earth and gives them proper incentive to enter the game. Once it crashes, Vriska captchalogues it so that she can give it to John and they all end up on the victory platform.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/7540))

In [Act 7](https://www.homestuck.com/story/8127) we see them win their assorted battles (with the Lord English one remaining ambiguous) and Calliope turns into a black hole. The Mayor and PM destroy the rings and trigger the forge, which allows the frog Jade bred to grow into the new universe. They step through the door with Earth C. Then we move onto the [Snapchat Credits](https://www.homestuck.com/story/8130).

They ectobiologically create a lot of human, troll and carapacian babies. Earth C is already populated by carapacians who are working to get society started, presumably the ones from the beta kids’ battlefield transferred by Jade. The consorts likely populated Earth C in the same way. The creators don’t make any distinction between the species, and thanks to a _Homestuck^2_ bonus update, it’s now confirmed that the division into kingdoms was put into practice by the Mayor, along with the founding political system.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/8130))

The political system, without spoiling the bonus update, involved equal representation from all four kingdoms and encouraged cooperation between kingdoms in order to pass laws. By the time the creators appeared in the future, things were not as perfect as in the Mayor’s day. 

We know that a lot of humans were xenophobic before the _Epilogues,_ and therefore presumably before the creators arrived from the past. There were social implications of the trolls being unable to reproduce except through a cloning process that was controlled by a predominately human government. The planet knows the history that the trolls came from, and don’t seem to care that the trolls on Earth C are not Alternians. (Why on Earth C do they know about the Alternian empire?)([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/2)) The bonus update tells us that the consort kingdom necessitated laws around what happened if a member died between elections because of their shorter lifespans. This is textual.

I believe the implication of these facts is that at some point, probably after the Mayor’s death, the citizenry started to question why the consorts had an equal share of governance. With their shortened lifespans and their dubious intelligence, it brings to mind Jane’s conversation with Gamzee about the difference between equality and equity.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/18))

And once you question whether one of the four quarters that makes up the House, the other foundational principles become editable. [All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm).

Regardless of the political turbulence in the background, the first year of the creators being on Earth C looks good. John’s 17th birthday looks delightfully weird, and some time before his 18th, Rose and Kanaya get married.

When I saw the Snapchat of their wedding with the tricksters, I was distracted by their fun clothes and at most imagined some kind of slutty behaviour, as has been shown in many fanfics. But I saw what Trickster Mode looked like in the main comic, and I think that this is severely downplaying what would have been an awful night. 

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/8130))

When Jane told Callie about their trickster adventures, she didn’t want to hurt Callie’s feelings and so sugarcoated it. Callie therefore believed when they brought out the lollipop that they were helping their friends have an even better night. 

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/7265))

After a couple of shots of a few of friends in isolation, the next significant Snapchat series we see is of John’s 18th birthday. It’s also the last Snapchat that shows all the friends hanging out together. 

At this point, Terezi has left to search for Vriska. John takes snaps for her of his birthday, but no group shot; everyone mostly faces away from him. We know that Jane and Dave had an argument about Jane bailing out the locksmith industry. 

John's 19th birthday is interesting because Jade remembers when it's "pretty late" and wants to go over. After Jade sends her snap (and I assume they have a group where they all share their snaps collectively, rather than sending them direct), Rose and Kanaya send one saying happy birthday too. They're in the brooding caverns, there are eggs behind them and Rose sends an extra pic of the grubs (almost as if one of their friends has started making some remarks about trolls and their mission to transition to natural reproduction and they want to show that they're there and in love, but hey, that's just conjecture).

Jake sends two snaps of him and Dirk (Dirk welding) without specifically saying happy birthday (almost as if one of their friends would perhaps take issue with that?). Callie and Roxy send John a happy birthday message last. There’s no message from Jane, or to her that we see.

His next birthday, the last we see in the credits, is his 20th. The sign from his 18th has never come down and he doesn’t have any visitors. As far as we know, he spends the day sending morose snaps of things that remind him of his dad. He doesn’t seem particularly okay. Three years later, he’s not leaving the house and is unreliable about answering contact from his friends, and, if he chooses meat, he realises he’s depressed. 

These are events as they’ve been presented in the text (with a little extrapolation). But in order to understand Dirk’s descent, we have to make some bigger leaps than “the kids’ second trickster session probably resembled their first”.

In Meat, Dirk tells Jake, I’ll never let you break my heart again ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/39)). As a Prince of Heart, this phrasing is significant, and _Homestuck_ has long had a tradition of literalising wordplay (such as when Equius, the heir of void, was killed by strangulation or becoming _void of air_ ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/3448))). It’s obvious something has gone down between Dirk and Jake, something that’s left its marks on both of them.

My theory is that this heartbreak triggered a realisation in Dirk about his aspect, similar to what happened to Terezi immediately prior to [[S] Terezi: Remem8er](https://www.homestuck.com/story/7939). Like Terezi, this opened him up to an alternate self, starting the process of ascension to an Ultimate Self [as described by Davepeta](https://www.homestuck.com/story/8006). This isn’t an inherently harmful process, but Dirk’s splinters aren’t all harmless.

It’ll probably help to consider what exactly an Ultimate Self is. Dirk describes it in Meat, but he’s terrible at describing things in a way that actually aids understanding, so let’s look closer at Davepeta’s words as well and the steps that Terezi and Jade took towards it. 

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/25))

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/8006))

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/8006))

Terezi has an epiphany about mind, enabling her to understand herself better. This unlocks her memories of a timeline where she also understood mind better than she did ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/7939)). As Davepeta says, gaining the d33pest possible understanding of any aspect will bring you to the same final conclusion about your ultimate self ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/8006)). They tell Jade this just as she’s having deep thoughts about space, when she could really use the memories of an alternate timeline where she wasn’t alone on the ship for three years. 

I believe that the Ultimate Self is not an amalgam of _infinite_ selves, but rather the selves contained within _Homestuck,_ so that an Ultimate Self would be the character as the audience truly knows them, holding all the memories that we have seen them have, regardless of whether the version of the character holding them has truly lived through them.

So, if Dirk’s heartbreak prompted a greater understanding of heart itself, it’s reasonable to conclude that he gained memories of another Dirk. Which one? 

Bro Strider, a man who was exposed to Lil Cal for years and horribly abused his brother? Lil Cal himself, who contains Arquius and later became Lord English? The auto-responder before that event, who was trapped in the Internet for three years and who hates Dirk even more than Dirk does? The pre-retcon Dirk who watched impotently as all his friends were killed?

Dirk’s alternate selves are not the source of knowledge and peace that they were for Jade and Terezi. Most of them are more than one person’s experience too, which is likely more than a body can handle.

(A note on this: while Dirk and Rose talk about the physical cost of ascension as a given, prior to the _Epilogues_ we don’t see that as the case at all. Davepeta says that it’s the dump of _all_ alternate selves at once that a mortal body wouldn’t be able to cope with.([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/8006)))

But Dirk is uniquely positioned to deal with an excess of Dirk. As he once splintered himself into a computer program and as he later dragged the souls from other bodies, he should be able to break part of his soul off, if there was too much of it inside him, and put it in a container. 

I’ve been calling this my [Horcrux](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Horcrux) theory, for obvious reasons. 

I think the container he used was Rose.

Backing back for a moment, to the question of Dirk’s villainy. I don’t think of Dirk as an inherently evil person, though he probably thought that of himself when he was 16 and his worst crime was believing Jake when he said he wanted a sparring partner and acting overzealously in that direction. Dirk has always believed that he was capable of acting horribly. This is a side effect of being a teenager. But when Dirk was 16, Dave confirmed that a version of him grew up to be a worst case scenario Dirk. And at some point, Dirk gained the memories of Lord English. 

Prior to the _Epilogues,_ only three characters are able to assume narrative control over the comic (though Vriska does telepathically tell Hussie off at one point). Caliborn, who takes issue with the comic not continuing with the trickster arc ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/5778)) and who takes over in order to present his version of _Homestuck,_ [Homosuck](https://www.homestuck.com/story/6243). Doc Scratch takes over after Terezi scratches the disc ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/3614)). And Hussie, who we can regard as an exception. The thing these non-Hussie characters have in common, and what Calliope and Dirk eventually will as well, is that they all are or contain cherubs. Interestingly, [Hussie does cosplay as Callie Ohpee,](https://www.homestuck.com/story/4671) so he may fit this pattern.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/40))

While we’re looking at phrasing, let’s throwback to a statement from a previous narrator, one who shares components with Dirk:

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/3627))

When Calliope explains narrative control to Aradia, she presents the opinion that to be upfront about narration is the ethical way to proceed, and obscuring the fact that there’s an author and a bias, as Dirk did for part of Meat, is dangerous and destructive. 

Dirk agrees. He needs to be stopped and seems incapable of or unwilling to stop himself. He has a conditional immortality that he understands better than most. Being “good” or “bad” doesn’t affect which way the pendulum swings, or Jade and Jane wouldn’t have had Just deaths in GAME OVER. What matters is the effect it has on the story, because a god’s death has to be worthy of the kind of story that gets passed down. Dirk’s writing a story like that.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/41))

I don’t know if he vented his excess Dirk to Rose intentionally or if it was accidental. She’s an obvious choice either way because of the closeness between them and also because they are so similar. What is clear is that what Rose describes is not the same as what Davepeta describes.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/prologue/2))

The gradual awareness of other Roses wouldn’t hurt her, according to Davepeta. And it sounds more like she’s becoming omniscient than that she’s becoming aware of other Roses. Omniscience is an attribute most ascribed to Doc Scratch, though Dirk lays claim to it on his and Rose’s behalf in the _Epilogues,_ and Hussie and Lil Hal are described that way too. 

This is compounded by the fact that we see Rose struggle with being absorbed into Dirk throughout Meat, and some of her dialogue has markers that it might not be hers.

In the prologue, she talks to John in a way that feels very Rose. And then …

([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/prologue/2))

She takes a pill. And Dirk’s words come out of her mouth. 

Dirk and Rose can sound pretty similar, so I think it’s most useful to look at this side by side, using how Rose used to provide exposition on the right ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/4701)), how she does later in the _Epilogues_ while unmedicated (presumably) on the left ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/7)), and during the prologue while medicated in the centre ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/prologue/2)).

Scroll to see full image:

In the prologue, Rose is explaining canon and its pillars to John for the first time. While John is legitimately intelligent, metaphysical conversations don’t come naturally to him. Though Rose knows this and has in the past (see right-hand conversation with Dave) altered her language to be as accessible as possible, she tells John a lot of details that are superfluous to his mission, overwhelming him with words and intimidating him out of asking questions. Also seen in her conversation with Dave, Rose _likes_ when people are engaged and asking questions. 

She also makes some strange omissions. She never refers to the Ultimate Self by name, though we know that she talked to Roxy, Dave and Dirk about it all the time. She also doesn’t refer to Calliope by name or description, even though she clearly knows what happened.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/prologue/2))

These omissions outright obscure the information she’s giving John. And I believe this is an intentional obfuscation. I also believe that Dirk is using 2nd person point of view to make sure that John doesn’t call Rose out on it and gives up on asking questions. We know that Dirk uses 2nd person in order to make his narrative command stronger, as demonstrated here:

  
([source)](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/26)

This also demonstrates that Dirk can’t just overwrite the actions that are happening. He can manipulate, but not force people to act out of character without setting up a mechanism (such as Rose’s medication making her more pliable) to make his intrusion narratively supported. 

And, looking at the example on the left, we see that how she speaks in the prologue is lacking her distinctive, dramatic style. When I presented this theory to a friend, he pointed out that Rose is very sick and might not be up to it. But later, she very clearly is up to it.

But her words are in purple, so we know they’re hers, right?

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/prologue/2))

Later, Dirk takes over Rose completely and outright states that he’s doing it.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/16))

It begins here, when she mimics his expression and they make eye contact. From this point on, she agrees with him or says things which prompt him to speak. It’s not the same kind of blankness that characterised Dirk speaking with Rose’s voice in the prologue, but the metaphors that are just above this screenshot don't continue past this point.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/16))

Her movements are described as “rag-doll” like. Then he stands over her and crosses his arms. A moment later, Rose crosses hers. 

The weather is perfect (as the text tells us many, many times in the _Epilogues_ ). Even though shivering and sweating are very common signifier for illness, she hasn’t displayed these symptoms once. She’s echoing his movements because she’s becoming his puppet.

And then Dirk tells us as much. 

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/16)) This isn’t enough of course. Rose, even at her weakest, doesn’t go easy. This is why Dirk waited for Rose to approach him, to cry for help ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/7)), because she wouldn’t do that unless she was at the end of her rope, and that means he has a shot at becoming one with her. He still can’t write her giving into him without earning it, just as he couldn’t write Jade as escaping the black hole based on nothing.

There are a few advantages to having Rose on his team. Firstly, if he did go off on his own, especially if the other characters learned of his villainy, they might have just let him go. So he took the light of the story with him, after brutally intervening in her marriage. Naturally they’re being pursued. There’s also the advantage that a Seer of Light gives him, not that I expect he’s allowing her to access her powers. But with that in his arsenal, he can both use her visions as a tool if he needs, as well as removing her from the opposition. Finally, he does seem to genuinely love her and value her company. He’s in this for the long haul and would probably go insane on his own.

Not that, strictly speaking, Rose is particularly her own person.

([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/25))

This conversation is interesting because there’s many creepy undertones. Dirk focuses on Rose’s beauty and frailty in a way that’s deeply uncomfortable. When he talks about loving her, it’s unclear how he means it. 

Which is a fantastic distraction from what’s actually happening. They know each other, and as per their conversation preceding these screenshots, knowing someone completely blurs the divisions between individuals. 

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/25))

Rose questions whether she’ll still be herself and she’s right to. Dirk says she’ll be better—and he has a history of wanting people to be more like himself. When he said to Jake that he had to be more like Jane and to Jane that she had to be more like Jake ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/story/4256)), what he meant was that each of them had to adopt a level of skepticism that was more like his own. 

What was it that Rose saw that made her join Dirk so completely, to believe that the two of them were the only ones who could go on the mission and that she had to leave Kanaya rather than bring her along? Candy, yes, but I believe something more.

I think she saw that all the friends who might want to help them have all been split into two incomplete parts along with the timeline.

If we accept that Dirk set up the prologue intentionally, the question becomes _why._ Why does Dirk want John to choose between Meat and Candy? I believe that Dirk orchestrated John's choice and used it as a Choice so that he could split all the characters' souls in half, the half he valued in Meat, and their shadows in Candy.

Most fans of _Homestuck_ meta theories will know that the 12 classes line up very neatly with Jung’s core 12 archetypes. I’m about to talk about [Jung’s shadow theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_\(psychology\)) in relation to the _Epilogues._

[Ursula Le Guin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin) uses the principles of Taoism and the shadow theory as the basis of one of her most popular books, [_A Wizard of Earthsea,_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthsea) and has written [an essay on the topic](https://www.jstor.org/stable/29781619?seq=1) and the classic fairy tale that it’s named after, [Hans Christian Anderson's _The Shadow._](https://www.worldoftales.com/fairy_tales/Hans_Christian_Andersen/THE%20SHADOW.html) _Earthsea_ (which happens to sound an awful lot like Earth C) follows a cocky young wizard who delves too deep into magic, raising a shadow that wreaks havoc on the world and looks increasingly like him.

  
([source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_\(psychology\)))

For most people, their shadow attributes would include sources of fear, shame and unneeded characteristics. A shadow might force someone to confront their death, their sexuality, their anger, the skills they cast aside in favour of the direction they chose. The shadow is part of them, but it’s a part they try not to look at. 

The shadow isn't just the darker side though, and Dirk isn’t afraid of the things most people are. With naked BDSM bunnies on his wallpaper and a comfort with decapitation that’s beyond unhealthy, his shadow wouldn’t contain those aspects of him. It would be vulnerable, because that’s what he’s afraid of. 

Let’s look at it visually. This is based off thoughtful characterisation but is ultimately speculation. This isn’t a binary opposition; we won’t have one Dirk green and the other red, one female and the other male. Both Dirks would look like him, just with certain traits brought to the front. 

(For these lists, I've linked one example that I think illustrates the trait.)

#### Valued attributes

  * [Decisive/Able to make tough calls](https://homestuck.com/story/4572)
  * [Confident/Cool](https://www.homestuck.com/story/5238)
  * [Capable/Self sufficient](https://www.homestuck.com/story/7919)
  * [](https://www.homestuck.com/story/7919)[Controlling/Leading](https://www.homestuck.com/story/4259)
  * [Intelligent](https://www.homestuck.com/story/4846)



#### Discarded into shadow

  * [Doubts himself](https://www.homestuck.com/story/5639)
  * [Vulnerable/Emotional/Insecure](https://www.homestuck.com/story/5514)
  * [Empathetic](https://www.homestuck.com/story/5759)
  * Loyal to the death
  * [Follows stronger leaders](https://www.homestuck.com/story/5828)



According to Jung, the process of becoming whole involves looking at your shadow, accepting the parts of yourself that you did not think were necessary to you being yourself but are still part of you anyway, and embracing it. The Dirk we see in the _Epilogues_ isn't someone who has come to terms with the parts of himself he represses, he's someone who has fallen into the same patterns he was always repeating.

It’s easy to imagine him putting the parts of him he doesn’t like into another timeline, then killing that Dirk off.

But he didn’t just do it to himself.

There are countless instances of shadows being used dramatically in the _Epilogues,_ but the part that strikes me most is just before Dirk absorbs Rose into himself.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/25))

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/25))

Rose confronts her shadow, all at once and contrived by Dirk, and this pushes her all the way to death, but for Dirk holding her to life. I believe that when Candy Rose saw Meat, she saw Candy (and that Candy Rose saw Meat), but she also saw that in both timelines their friends had so many holes in them they looked like swiss cheese.

  
([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/25))

Not just the world circumstances, but their character traits have congealed, into concentrated clumps with some brought to the surface and others relegated to almost nothing. Like how a drink with the syrup at the bottom might taste less flavourful at the top.

In Meat, each of the characters has attributes that Dirk values, and in Candy he discarded the ones he didn’t. For example, John:

#### Valued attributes

  * [Doesn’t care about the wellbeing of his friends, taking their teen versions into battle and abandoning his younger self and the Mayor to a doomed timeline](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/4)
  * [Unemotional, doesn’t react when Rose dies and Jade is mortally injured except to be disappointed their most powerful player and strategist have been taken out](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/15)



#### Discarded into shadow

  * [Doesn’t care about responsibility to Plot](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/1)
  * [Head feels lighter, superficial, sappy](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/1)
  * Prioritises friends:
    * [Worried about messing up Roxy/Callie](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/10)
    * Reaches out to Terezi ([can’t let go of Terezi](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/22))
    * [Invested in DaveKat](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/11)
    * [Wants to support Karkat](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/20)
    * [Speaks up in defence of Jake’s treatment](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/36)
    * [Tavros kidnapping](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/23)
    * [Seriously loves the kids](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/38)
  * [Able to ignore depression](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/27)



Dirk needs a John who can go fight Lord English without getting distracted by the fact that he’s leading his friends to their death. He needs him dedicated to the mission, so he makes sure of it. By making Rose be his mouthpiece, someone that John trusts. Let's look at Rose's shadow.

#### Valued attributes

  * [Sees John’s sacrifice as essential _on his birthday_](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/prologue/2)
  * [Snarkiness, wit, interest in psychoanalysis and making people uncomfortable](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/7)
  * [Fixation on father-daughter relationship with Dirk](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/37)
  * [Interest in metaphysics, mysticism, forbidden knowledge](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/16)
  * [DAVE: rose will probably claim neutrality at first but im betting she can be cajoled by her wife to our side](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/2)



#### Discarded into shadow

  * [Relieved John didn’t leave](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/4) (wellbeing of individuals more important than metaphysical implications)
  * [Doesn’t seem to have any of her old interests apart from knitting](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/8)
  * [Distance between her and Kanaya abruptly disappears](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/4)
  * [Creepily happy, like smiling and humming and shit](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/8)
  * [Kid positive and Kanaya obsessed](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/17)
  * [ROSE: I philosophically babble rather a lot, or at least I used to.](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/33)
  * [Happy. ROSE: I never thought I would actually get to be happy.](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/33)



Dirk needs a Rose who is her own person. At the end of Candy, after Meat Rose has seen Candy and when she thanks John, she’s more lucid than the vacantly smiling and knitting Rose of previous chapters. But from the start, Dirk can’t get rid of her love for Kanaya, as it’s too integral to who she is, but he can put her blind devotion away. In contrast, Meat Kanaya is obsessed with Rose.

#### Valued attributes

  * [Violent, decisive, vengeful](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/42)
  * [Emotional, invested](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/21)
  * [Loves Rose to the exclusion of all other cares and responsibilities](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/43)
  * [When letting go of Rose, it’s because Dirk convinced her that Rose was too good for her](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/37)



#### Discarded into shadow

  * [Concern over Rose leaving removed](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/4)
  * [Totally devoted to troll reproduction and the survival of the troll species](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/8)
[
    * Work first, Rose second: KANAYA: And If I Can Spend Every Day Like This Doing The Work That I Was Born To Do With The Person I Am Most Fond Of In The World By My Side
](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/8)
  * [](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/8)[Unemotional even in upsetting and offensive situations (doesn’t rise to Jane’s remarks)](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/20)



Dirk says that he expects and wants to be chased ([source](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/42)). By keeping Kanaya’s obsession with Rose in Meat, he guarantees it, as well as providing an obvious example that he’s messed with someone’s free will by forcing her to accept Rose leaving. Also on the team pursuing them is Dave, the person he is planning to be responsible for his Just death.

#### Valued attributes

  * [Doesn’t want to ruin friendship with Karkat, but acknowledges his feelings](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/32)
  * Immediately eager to rush off to do important things ([going after Dirk](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/2>Karkat%E2%80%99s%20campaign</a>,%20<a%20href=))



#### Discarded into shadow

  * Internalised homophobia:
    * [Terrified of the idea of being with Karkat, has a panic attack when faced with it](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/9)
    * [More ‘bro’ like and masculine in general, stilted when telling John he values him as a friend](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/27)
    * [Loyal, self-sacrificial to the extreme/ “doing the right thing” (specifically staying with Jade)](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/11)
  * [Won’t interfere (Dirk’s death, war)](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/15)



Dave needs to be strong enough to kill Dirk and motivated enough to go after him. In Candy his fears are all consuming, but in Meat he can act. Candy’s Dave is even disposed of, by becoming Davebot.

Even Calliope is different between the two timelines. It should be noted that the attributes that Dirk discards, unlike the other characters, are ones that would be a threat to him.

#### Valued attributes

  * [Claims non-interference](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/43)
  * [Very emotional about Roxy and Callie](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/32)
  * [Invested in the characters, empathetic if in a flawed way](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/meat/31)



#### Discarded into shadow

  * [Brusque and superior](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/27)
  * [Calls Aradia “lesser” and “servant”](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/40)
  * [Utterly focused on eating Lord English so she has the power to leave Candy](https://www.homestuck.com/epilogues/candy/24)



Dirk wants a Calliope who is distracted by her emotions, who won’t put up as much of a fight and who won’t treat the characters as a means to an end. He wasn’t surprised when she began to narrate against him, he clearly expected that to be an issue to work around. He knows that Jade slipping into the black hole is giving herself to a Calliope who will stop at nothing to destroy him.

 _Homestuck_ has always been about balance, and Taoist imagery is found throughout. Prospit and Derse battle in perfect harmony in perpetuity until the heroes rise up and trigger it to begin in earnest. Optimistic Duelist has talked about the duality behind the classpects ([source](https://medium.com/@RoseOfNobility/force-and-flow-the-aspects-arent-the-only-existential-duality-at-play-in-classpects-fd1c3958314c)). Caliborn is yang, Calliope is yin. 

I don’t think that the true dichotomy is found between Dirk and Calliope, two characters who strive to shape the narrative in ways that will advantage themselves, whose text colours sit next to each other on the colour wheel. I think it’s between Dirk and John, natural opposites. John moves through the narrative naturally and effortlessly, the whole of paradox space echoing his interests without his intervention, living the [Taoist ideal of flow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtGtqmC5wU4).

So he killed John off in the timeline where he was a threat—not just by having him defeated by Lord English the way the rest of the beta kids were, but by being poisoned with narrative irrelevance—and leaves him depressed and impotent in Candy, unable to participate in the war and barely able to get out of bed.

And when we look at a _Homestuck_ that has been ripped in half, not just on a timeline level but on a character one, the title of _Homestuck^2_ makes more sense. We have two _Homestucks,_ each containing only half of what _Homestuck_ needs. In order for the story and the characters to be whole, they have to get back when they lost. Meat and Candy have to be reunified. The only way for the story to end is for the plot to resolve that equation, to multiply meat and candy together and get something whole at the end. The characters have to either reunify themselves from the two timelines, or otherwise make contact with their Ultimate Selves (who by definition would contain both halves) and regain what they've lost.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a full table on the divergences between Meat and Candy for each relevant character and only chose the more relevant ones to include in here. If you want more, let me know in the comments.


End file.
